Tiger Woods like Humpty Dumpty while Elin Nordegren a dancing star

Tiger Woods is becoming the "humpty dumpty" of the golf world according to Johnny Miller, while Elin Nordegren is reinventing herself as a possible candidate on Dancing with the Stars!

Johnny Miller's comments came soon after Woods lost his match against Thomas Bjorn in first round action at the WGC Match Play event this past week. In a comparison to Mike Tyson, TV Announcer Miller said that, like Tyson, Woods was "way above all the other players, and had a great fall, and there’s pieces all over the place trying to put them together.”

Like pieces of Holyfield's ear Johnny? More than a bit of exaggeration in Miller's comments which are usually stated with bit of flourish, don't you think?

The comparison made between Woods and Tyson is ridiculous at best. Woods, although terribly unfaithful, was always a gentleman golfer on the course as opposed to Tyson's disgraceful antics which eventually led him to jail time.

On a more positive note, Elin Nordegren began dusting herself off soon after her split from Tiger Woods with a cover shoot for People Magazine and a number 60 spot on AskMen.com's 2011 list of "Most Desirable Women". Although a boyfriend did appear on the scene, sources say Tiger Woods' jealous nature keeps suitors at bay.


Credit: Hubpages

In an effort to keep picking up the pieces of her life, rumors are coming in that Elin will appear on Dancing with the Stars. 12th season cast announcements will be made tonight on The Bachelor.
It appears that Nordegren is having less trouble rebounding than Tiger Woods!
Now if only Tiger Woods would start dancing on the golf course. Fans are still waiting for history to be made!

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HSBC Women's Champions Final Round Duel: Arimura vs. Webb

The final round of the HSBC Women’s Champions looks like one of those great things in golf: a good old-fashioned duel. If stroke play can ever look like match play then this is it. Separated by just one stroke, and a further five shots clear of the rest of the field going into the final round, Chie Arimura and Karrie Webb have been conducting their own private battle. Tim Maitland reports.

The duelists could not be more different: Chie represents the future, Karrie is already a legend.

  credit: Karrie Webb winning Kraft Nabisco

Webb at 36 has seen it all, done it all and got the t-shirt! She qualified for the World Golf Hall of Fame 11 years ago and when she became eligible to be inducted in 2005 she was the youngest inductee ever at that time.

Arimura in sharp contrast has never won outside Japan, but those who have watched her burst onto the scene on the JLPGA have been expecting her to break through internationally. At just 23 years of age she already has seven wins under her belt, including five during a spectacular 2009 season: she knows how to win.

 

credit: Golf Digest

“It’s still not easy! With each experience you learn the nervousness and the pressure you have to go through. I say I’m still not used to it!” Arimura says.

The main reason that an international win is missing from her young CV may be that she hasn’t played that often outside her homeland. During her great 2009 season she showed up at the Evian Ladies Masters and the Women’s British Open and last year she played the HSBC Women’s Champions, the Evian and in all four LPGA majors, finishing 9^th at the Kraft Nabisco, 32nd in Singapore.

Those with insider knowledge of the Japanese game, such as 2010 HSBC Women’s Caddy of the Year Dean Herden, have been expecting her to breakthrough internationally.

“I’m not surprised at all. She had a wonderful year in 2009 and she really learned how to win that year. She’s a real hard worker and she’s probably the toughest Japanese player since I’ve been caddying on the JLPGA Tour! All that hard work pays off somewhere down the line,” says Herden.

“She hits her iron shots so straight and you need to do that around this course. She’s a complete player. She hits it so straight off the tee and she hits her irons so straight and she’s deadly with the putter. All round she’s got a great game; there’s not one part that is weak. She chips well, she does everything right. She’s cute and she’s known for that in Japan; the smile, the good looks and she’s not very tall. She’s quite famous too, her and Sakura Yokomine,” he adds, before insisting that, if Chie wins on Sunday it won’t be long before her name is just as accepted as those of Ochoa, Shin (who he caddied to victory in 2009) and Ai Miyazato.

“It’s the great thing about this event, it’s a great stepping stone for every player; once they win this it gives them the confidence to go on to even bigger and better things. I think Chie can probably win a US Open she hits it so straight and they set up those courses with long rough and tight and she’ll kill it,” Herden insists.

Arimura’s caddie this week, Lionel Matichuk, who works permanently on the Japan Tour, has also known Chie was bound to break out internationally sooner or later.

“She’s good. She’s good enough to do it. She’s top quality; she just hasn’t played many international events,” said Matichuk.

“I’ve known her for three years and she’s always been pretty good. This week she’s just been in control, hitting a lot of solid shots into the wind, so the wind hasn’t affected them much and if she’s made a mistake somewhere she’s recovered. She’s got a good short game, pretty much everything.”

As if playing almost head-to-head with a legend like Webb – a winner of 7 majors and 36 LPGA events – Arimura will also have the hottest player on the planet in her 10-10 a.m. group. The world number one Yani Tseng, still in with a chance of winning for the fourth week in a row and her fifth consecutive event, leads the best of the rest six shots behind the young Japanese star.

“To play amongst these great players, even now, feels very much like a dream, but I’m calm and I think I’m ready to play well,” Chie insists.

“We had the duel between Lee Westwood and Francesco Molinari at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai last November and people are still talking about that,” says Giles Morgan of the event won by the young Italian.

“That battle was compared, not equal to, but compared with the 1977 Duel In The Sun at Turnberry between Nicklaus and Watson; that’s how special duels are and if we have one in the final round in Singapore the fans are in for a treat!” he adds.

 

Arimura, who has never won an LPGA tournament, will be paired Sunday with Webb and world No. 1 Yani Tseng of Taiwan, who shot a 69 Saturday and is six strokes off the lead.

 

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Yani Tseng Hopes Number One Rule Applies at HSBC Women's Championship in Singapore

New women’s world number one Yani Tseng is hoping that the HSBC Women’s Champions rule that its winners belong to the exclusive club of top-ranked players still applies when she gets to Singapore next week. Tim Maitland reports.

The three champions of the tournament at Tanah Merah come from the elite group of six players to have been rated number one since the rankings were introduced in 2006: Ai Miyazato of Japan, Korea’s Jiyai Shin and Lorena Ochoa of Mexico.

“That sounds really good! Yeah! Thanks for reminding me of that!,” said the 22-year-old Taiwanese star Tseng, who won the Honda LPGA Thailand this weekend by five strokes extending her 2011 record to four wins in four events!

 

credit:Zimbio

“I’m really looking forward to this year. I know I have lots of confidence right now and I can’t wait to get to Singapore and see my old friends, to play that tournament and see all my HSBC friends over there. It’ll be pretty nice,” said Tseng, who is eager to test herself on the Garden Course after winning the Taifong Ladies Open on the Ladies Asian Golf Tour and claiming the Handa Women’s Australian Open and the ANZ Ladies Masters in Queensland in successive weeks.

“It’s a great golf course. You can play all 14 clubs on that course; it’s not just driver-wedge, driver-wedge. You hit a three wood off the tee, you hit a rescue off the tee all the different kinds of shots you have to hit. You really need to focus on what your strategy is and every hole is different. Some of the par fives are reachable, which makes it more fun and then there are island greens; it’s just a fun golf course to play. You never know the winning score and there are big crowds too,” Yani says.

However Tseng will face fierce competition to keep hold of her number one ranking when she gets to Singapore. As well as 2009 HSBC Women’s Champions winner Jiyai Shin who Tseng toppled from top spot on the Rolex Rankings at the start of this week, Suzann Pettersen, Cristie Kerr and Na Yeon Choi are all one win away from taking the number one ranking away.

“It’s an incredibly exciting time for golf at the moment. We had Lee Westwood arrive at the HSBC Champions in Shanghai last November as the new number one with Tiger Woods, Martin Kaymer and Phil Mickelson all with the opportunity to toppling him that week and it made for a great tournament. The HSBC Women’s Champions is going to have that same buzz and excitement,” said Giles Morgan, HSBC Group Head of Sponsorship.

“Last year was the first time that a tournament in Asia had impacted the very top of the men’s world rankings, now we have young talented Asian women fighting for the right to be world number one in an world-class event in Singapore. It all proves Asia’s emerging in to the top echelons of the golfing world,” he added.

For Tseng, just being able to return to the Lion City as number one, to a place where she played and won some of her earliest junior tournaments as a girl, will be a memorable moment.

“That would be great! I’d really wish that. I’m trying not to think too much about only staying number one for one week, but sometimes you never know. I really just want to stay focused and keep working hard,” she says.

“When I first started playing [tournaments] in Singapore, I didn’t even think of being women’s number one; I just came to play and to try and win those championships. I didn’t think about the world. I didn’t even know how big the world is. It’s only since I went to the United States that I started to know how big it is. But all the tournaments I won in Singapore gave me a lot of confidence too. I’d win a tournament, come back the next year and win again.”

YANI TSENG INTERVIEW

Q: So, little Ruby* Tseng is the world number one! How about that?

A: It’s very exciting for me to be world number one. For the last five or six months everybody in the top six in the world has had the chance to be number one and then finally I’ve got to world number one. It’s really, really exciting. I’ve dreamed about being world number one and I’ve talked about being world number one and now that moment has come it feels so unreal. I wasn’t expecting that it was really going to come. It makes me so appreciative. I appreciate my friends, my team, my coach and all the people around me that are always supporting me. I just really appreciate it.

Now, I have lots of confidence. I know how to be on top. I feel like I know more how to win a tournament. I’m not afraid to be in the lead. I’m happy to be in the lead. Everything’s started to change a little bit; I feel like I’m improving and improving every year and it’s very exciting for me to see how I’m getting on this year.

[*Ruby was the western name Yani used for a time when she was an Amateur]

Q: Was there a moment when it really sank in?

A: Not really. All the moments are there in my mind. I’ve looked back at every day from the first time I started playing golf and I’ve finally become world number one, but you know we’re all still very close; you never know what will happen this week or next week. So I just want to keep working hard, because everybody’s working, so it’s very challenging for me. There are still a lot of things to learn. It’s not just for the short term. I want to be long-term; like Annika and Lorena.

When I first started playing [tournaments] in Singapore, I didn’t even think of being women’s number one; I just came to play and to try and win those championships. I didn’t think about the world. I didn’t even know how big the world is. It’s only since I went to the United States that I started to know how big it is. But all the tournaments I won in Singapore gave me a lot of confidence too. I’d win a tournament, come back the next year and win again. Through all the years it’s been very successful, as an amateur playing all over Asia. Going back for the HSBC [Women’s Champions] I was always very happy to go back there again.

Q: Can you believe the little girl who used to go over there to play tournaments is now number one?

A: No. I was expecting that, but I didn’t know it would be so soon. This year I set out the goal to be world number one, but it’s been just two weeks! After three tournaments this year I’ve become world number one! It feels unreal.

Q: Your game seems to be so good. It’s not just that you’re winning, but you don’t seem to be making mistakes!

A: Yeah. I’m trying. I’m working out with my coach Gary Gilchrist and I’ve been changing my swing and I think my swing is better now. I’ve been working on my putting; my putting has always been sometimes up and sometimes down, but I’m working to be more consistent. My putting is working pretty well and I think everything is all set.

Q: And the HSBC Women’s Champions? A course you HAVE to be straight on…

A: Yeah, that’s for sure. It’s a great golf course. I’m really looking forward to playing that course. You can play all 14 clubs on that course; it’s not just driver-wedge, driver-wedge. You hit a three wood off the tee, you hit a rescue off the tee all the different kinds of shots you have to hit. You really need to focus on what your strategy is and every hole is different. Some of the par fives are reachable, which makes it more fun and then there are island greens; it’s just a fun golf course to play. You never know the winning score and there are big crowds too.

Q: And always a good champion. The three champions so far have all been*…

A: Number one! That sounds really good! Yeah! Thanks for reminding me of that! I’m really looking forward to this year. I know I have lots of confidence right now and I can’t wait to get to Singapore and see my old friends, to play that tournament and see all my HSBC friends over there. It’ll be pretty nice.

[*Strictly speaking, it’s better to say the three winners of the HSBC Women’s Champions also belong to the group of six women to have been ranked number one since the Rolex Rankings were introduced in 2006]

Q: Is it important to you to keep that number one so you can go back and see those friends as number one?

A: That would be great! I’d really wish that. I’m trying not to think too much about only staying number one for one week, but sometimes you never know. I really just want to stay focused and keep working hard.

Q: And what’s happening in Taiwan? They must be going crazy.

A: Yeah, I think so. On Sunday (at the ANZ Masters) I wrote on Facebook ‘Everybody wear pink. I’m going to wear pink and want everyone to support me’ and lots of people were wearing pink on Sunday in Taiwan. That was really interesting. I want to thank them for their support in Taiwan. It’s huge. I’m going back to Taiwan after the HSBC.

Q: So you have two homecomings? A homecoming in Singapore and then a homecoming in Taiwan.

A: Yeah. Yeah.

The HSBC Women's Champions event will be played February 24-27th on Tanah Merah Golf Course. Sixty-three of the best female golfers in the world will converge in Singapore in the fourth edition of the tournament.

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